The National Coalition for the Homeless expresses deep concern over the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2025 Continuum of Care (CoC) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The new NOFO abandons decades of evidence-based practice by limiting all permanent housing, including Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), Rapid Re-Housing (RRH), and Joint TH-RRH, to just 30% of available funding, forcing communities to cut the housing interventions proven to end homelessness.
“HUD’s new priorities turn back the clock on everything we know works,” said Donald Whitehead, Executive Director of NCH. “This NOFO will destabilize local homelessness systems and push thousands of people back into crisis. It is a devastating departure from evidence, humanity, and common sense.”
Independent assessments indicate that up to 171,000 people currently living in permanent supportive housing could lose their homes due to these changes, not because of program failure, but solely because HUD has chosen to defund the most effective solutions.
Pathologizing Poverty and Ignoring Structural Causes
HUD’s new approach reframes homelessness as a problem of personal behavior, focusing heavily on addiction, mental illness, and treatment compliance. This shift reinforces harmful stereotypes rather than addressing root causes such as the lack of affordable housing, wage stagnation, racial inequities, and the disappearance of low-cost units like SROs.
“Most people experiencing homelessness are not dealing with severe mental illness or addiction,” Whitehead emphasized. “They are people who can’t afford rent; workers, parents, seniors, youth, and people priced out by an economy that no longer matches wages to housing costs.”
Criminalization Is Not a Housing Strategy
The NOFO incentivizes programs that coordinate with law enforcement, enforce camping bans, or require mandatory participation in treatment or employment programs. These tactics echo failed strategies that criminalize homelessness and worsen barriers to stability.
“We cannot arrest or coerce our way out of homelessness,” added Whitehead. “Criminalization wastes resources, retraumatizes people, and distracts from the real solution: permanent housing.”
Permanent Housing Ends Homelessness
For more than two decades, communities across the country have shown that permanent housing paired with voluntary services leads to stability, recovery, and cost savings. HUD’s current direction undermines this proven approach.
“Every time we have invested in permanent housing, homelessness has gone down,” Whitehead said. “Every time we withdraw that investment, homelessness rises. The pattern is undeniable.”
A Call for Federal Leadership Rooted in Justice and Reality
NCH urges the Administration to reconsider the harmful 2025 NOFO and prioritize long-term, evidence-based solutions.
“We need leaders who understand that homelessness is a structural crisis, not a moral failing,” Whitehead said. “This nation deserves a federal response grounded in data, dignity, and the lived experiences of the people most affected.”
NCH remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing policies that truly end homelessness, and will continue to advocate for federal leadership that prioritizes housing, dignity, and evidence over ideology.
National Coalition for the Homeless
Donald Whitehead
Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless
[email protected]
www.nationalhomeless.org
